Last month I was commissioned by the soon to open Experience Barnsley Museum to make a piece of art inspired by a recently discovered photo album from the Victorian period. Here are some more details from the promotional material for the upcoming exhibition.

“Reworked is the first temporary exhibition to take place in the new Experience Barnsley Museum & Discovery Centre. Its conception came with the discovery of a Victorian photograph album that was unearthed during the moving of files from the old archives department at the Central Library to the new Archives and Discovery Centre here at Experience Barnsley.

These fascinating snapshots from Barnsley’s past became the starting point for a selected group of artists with strong local ties. Chosen for their innovative work and the approach they would bring to the exhibition, the artists were given very little information about the photographs, other than the names of the subject and the intriguing little captions that accompanied them (the pauper, the lunatic and the poetess etc). They were left to their own devices in terms of how much research they undertook into the lives and stories of the people whose image they were reworking.

Reworked brings together the artists responses alongside the newly discovered photograph album in this captivating and thought-provoking exhibition of work that takes a very contemporary approach to reinterpreting the past.”

Here is the photograph I was given…

Grimshaw & His Book Stall – Courtesy of Experience Barnsley Museum

…and here’s a sneak peek of my completed commission!

This All At Once Is Not Enough (detail) – Lee Gascoyne 2013

I look forward to sharing the full image of my painting when the exhibition opens. Hopefully you’ll be able to make it to the museum to see the real thing!